


When You See Me Again

by ana_iliad



Series: Drarryland 2019 [4]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Comfort, Drarryland: A Drarry Game/Fest, Engaged Drarry, M/M, Not Epilogue Compliant, Past Child Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-21 15:18:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18704959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ana_iliad/pseuds/ana_iliad
Summary: Can Harry choose to see Draco for what he can mean to him?





	When You See Me Again

**Author's Note:**

> This drabble is for a bonus prompt as part of the Drarryland Game.
> 
> **Prompt** : Sometimes what you've been searching for has been right in front of you the whole time. Drarry + Finding Each Other + one of these tropes: 8th Year, Aurors, Muggle AU, Professors, Epilogue Compliant, or Memory Loss | **Word Count:** Min - 236; Max - 979
> 
> RedHorse thank you so much for your encouragement and suggestions <3

**February 2007**

Harry woke up to the sound of children laughing. As always, it put a smile on his face. He quickly rushed down to greet the kids. Evie got the first kiss today, followed by Taylor, Maria, Willis, Rowan, Louie and Edward. Giggling along with them, he took them to the kitchen where Draco had laid out breakfast for everyone.

Even after all this time, Harry still wondered how Molly managed to provide three full meals enough to feed about two-hundred people every single day. She had help from the other residents of the home, but even then, it was a tremendous amount of work.

Taylor’s complaints about bell peppers brought him back to the present, where Draco was dutifully feeding veggies to all the kids. It made Harry’s heart ache with longing and guilt. The kind of life he had imagined for decades was in front of him, within his reach, and yet he felt as if he was looking from outside. He refused to grasp it because he felt like a stranger. In his own home, in his own life.

He realized that sometimes what you've been searching for has been right in front of you the whole time. And yet you can only watch helplessly as life goes on, leaving you behind.

\----

**April 2007**

Harry was sitting on the floor, pan in one hand, and his head between his knees. He was rocking himself in between sniffles when Draco found him. There was pasta sauce all over the table and the countertop, with the stove emitting hisses.

Draco immediately rushed to him, silk shirt and trousers be damned. He knelt in front of the black-haired man, technically his fiancé. “Harry, look at me. What happened? Why are you even here?” he asked gently.

“I was trying to cook for you. Your favourite; spaghetti and mushroom soup. But I put a little extra salt in it by mistake and…and…got so scared. I’m sorry for the mess. I was afraid you’d use the hot pan on me, so I poured water and spilt everything. I’m so sorry, please don’t make me sleep in the cupboard. _Please._ ” Harry’s voice cracked.

Draco immediately took Harry in his arms, Vanishing all the mess as he hugged his beloved. Not for the first time in his life, he wished to have his way with Harry’s Muggle family. “Harry, it’s okay. Love, you can mess up as much as you want. This is your house, all of it — the kitchen, the rooms, the drawing room, the garden. You can make a hundred mistakes, and no one will hurt you. And you don’t have to cook for me or anyone, ever.”

At this, Harry pushed him back. “But I want to. Pansy mentioned how it was a given that I always cooked. And you liked only my cooking over everyone else’s. I want to give you your old Harry. You’re doing so much, and I can’t even cook.” Towards the end, Harry was shouting.

By the time Draco found his voice, Harry had locked himself in their room. Draco was glad for the supervision charms in that room for dark and dangerous spells. Slowly, he trudged to the guest room which he had occupied since Harry’s attack more than a year earlier.

\----

**May 2007**

He did not recognize the faces laughing at him from the picture. Draco and Harry were draped all over each other, without a care in the world. Had he really been that happy, ever? Did Draco find so much joy being with Harry? He couldn’t believe it, but all the pictures painted a different story. They really had been living a dream together. _A precious, fragile dream._

Harry finally understood Draco’s heartache. To be looked at with love and then have it all taken away. What was going through Draco, every time Harry looked at him as a stranger, rather than a lover? How could Draco bear to live with this gut-wrenching pain every day?

One photo caught his attention. Where in all the photos he could see love and joy and stolen moments, this one was only a picture of himself. He was looking at the words, “Lily James Potter’s Home for All”, painted outside the gates of Malfoy Manor. He could see gratitude on his face, and his smile was watery, but his eyes told a different story. 

_Fear._

His eyes held more black than green. And he remembered. He remembered the terror that had filled him at the thought of ever losing Draco. His veins had turned to ice.

He knew now. He knew what he must do. Stop standing in his own way. The fear of losing Draco was worse than his fear of living a stranger’s life.

\----

**Same day, May 2007**

Draco was holding Harry’s old jumper, while his hands shook uncontrollably. For how long could he go on like this? He should have died the day Harry had been attacked by Travers. He would have preferred Azkaban over this torment every single day. It was better to have never experienced this kind of love than to have it taken away. Just as a sob escaped him, strong hands enveloped him in a hug, and he started wailing. 

“Harry…don’t force yourself.”

“Shh…. Draco, I’m not. This is _me._ ”

“You remember?” His voice heavy with disbelief.

“Not all of it. But I remember the most important part — what it means to love you.” Harry says, now holding him even more tightly.

And all Draco could do was hold on. All those nights when Harry was in a coma for a year, all those days when Harry couldn’t even bring himself to imagine being Draco’s boyfriend, and here he was. Finally in Harry’s arms again. And nothing else mattered. Not before, not ever again. They found each other again.

~fin~


End file.
